Dru walked slowly to the training yard, wondering if she would ever be able to get past the current lesson. Everyday for the past two weeks she had been working on dodging, and though it was and essential lesson, she felt like there was much more to learn. If I'm being honest with myself, I am simply frustrated, she thought.
Koala was usually the one to work each day with Dru, but she was currently on some sort of mission, so Dru was now working with Hack, and she was having a hard time. Koala would explain why the lessons were important, but Hack simply said, "Avoid being hit," and here they were two weeks later, still working on it.
Dru looked up as she reached the training area, and seeing Hack, decided to ask for something new.
"Morning Hack," she said, smiling.
"Dru," he said with a slight bow and head nod.
"I'm excited for a NEW lesson today,"she stressed. Emphasis on new, she thought with desperation.
"Prepare yourself," he stated as he got into position. "Avoid being hit."
Dru groaned, dejected. This was getting ridiculous.
"Hack…" She began, though was cut off as she dodged an incoming foot sweep that would have knocked her down. It took all her concentration to avoid his attacks, but she continued to try to speak. "Can't… we… try… something… oof… different?" she managed in between movements. He didn't respond, just continued to attack, and she growled in annoyance under her breath.
There were several breaks throughout the day, but the pair worked only on dodging attacks. Dru began to be pleased, noticing that he was trying with earnest to land a hit, and she was still able to dodge. As the time for the end of training drew near, she felt confidant enough that she went in for an attack as well.
Hearing some sort of commotion, but focused enough to block the noise out, she went in for an attack. Hack however, was distracted and instead of a light grab, he ended up being tackled to the ground, Dru falling over after him as she overcompensated for her hit striking its mark.
Hearing laughter, and being pulled to her feet, Dru gazed up to see her friend, and grinned. "Koala!" she shouted happily. "You're back! I missed you!" Dru threw her arms around the other girl in a hug, though quickly released her to turn back to Hack with a bow. "Not that I haven't been enjoying our lessons, Hack."
Koala and Hack both laughed now, as she gave him a hand to stand as well.
"I'm sure you were Dru," Koala said. "You lasted longer than I did anyway. I attacked him after the first day of training," she reminisced.
"Yes, you were a little more eager back then," Hack added. "But you've learned much more discipline since."
"Wait a second," Dru interjected. "This was some sort of test?" She was shocked, then paused in worry. "Did I pass?" she asked hesitantly.
Hack smiled and gave a bow. "It was not that kind of test," he stated. "Merely to see how long you will follow directions even when you do not agree with them, as well as if you will take matters into your own hands." He clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Good tackle" he added with a squeeze of his hand, and walked off, saying, "I need to report in," over his shoulder as he left.
Dru turned back to Koala with a grin, about to ask about her travels when she saw that Sabo was almost upon them, and speaking to Koala. He came up and spoke to her for a minute before nodding and turning around to leave. Annoyed, Dru called out to him, "Nice to see you too, Sabo!" seeing him turn and frown, then turned back and leaving without another word.
All other questions were forgotten as she turned to Koala and asked, "What is his problem with me?"
"Oh, don't let him bother you Dru," Koala answered with a wave of her hand. "He is just too serious sometimes."
"Koala, that's not true and you know it," Dru crossed her arms and looked at her friend. " Around everyone else, he smiles, and jokes. He knows everyone's name, greets them, talks to anyone!" she paused before adding, "except me," quietly.
Koala's face fell, and Dru could see she was trying to decide what to say, but Dru wasn't in the mood for excuses, especially since she had gotten the feeling that Sabo didn't want her there. Something was up, and the past two weeks without Koala had given her the opportunity to observe Sabo's interactions with others. He treated her differently than literally everyone else on the island.
"Dru, don't let it bother you," she said. "It's nothing, really."
"I thought we were friends Koala," Dru replied, and turned, walking back to her room. I don't like giving a guilt trip, but she knows what the problem is, and I couldn't fix it if I didn't know what it was. Normally, she would have figured it was his loss, and let it go. But Sabo was not only Koala's best friend, but also the chief of staff. With Dru being a part of them, she knew they needed to get along.
When she got to her room, she finally noticed that Koala had been following her. She continued to follow her into the room, and shut the door behind her.
"Look Dru," she began. "It really is nothing personal. He just needs some time to get over it." she said vaguely. Dru raised a brow in question and she continued. "I keep telling him," as if she was talking to herself now "if Dragon trusts you, and I trust you, he should too."
"But he doesn't," Dru said, understanding dawning. "So, he thinks I'm here to… what? Destroy everything?"
She giggled, "Not quite so dramatically, but yes. He thinks there is a possibility that you are a spy… for the government."
"But… why?" she asked completely shocked. This was not one of the scenarios that she had previously come up with.
"Well," she turned thoughtful "he doesn't know you like we do, and apparently he thinks you act pretty suspiciously." Koala was serious as she added, "We didn't tell him any specifics that you shared with us, and he can pretty protective of those he considers family."
"I can understand that." I'm not sure how to take this new information. True, he didn't know me like Koala and Dragon did, but that was no excuse to treat me like I didn't exist. "Why doesn't he simply try to get to know me then?" she asked.
"He's my friend Dru," Koala said with a sheepish look. "I can't tell you all his secrets. I only told you that because I don't want to take it personally. He'll get over it, I promise!"
"Okay," Dru said skeptically. "Thanks Koala."
"Yeah," she said. They both collapsed onto the bed, then turned to grin at each other.
"So, tell me what you can about your trip!" Dru said, switching gears. Koala lit up and started talking about her recent adventures. Dru focused on her words, knowing that she would have time later to decide what to do about Sabo.
For Dru, the next few days passed in a relative blur. She was back to training with Koala, but they had started working on defensive and offensive moves for hand to hand combat. She was happy to find that she was better than she had believed, perhaps due to all the wrestling the sisters had engaged in when they were younger. I may be nice, but I'm still a Cooper and Coopers do not let others walk all over them, she thought.
As the oldest, she would have to constantly prove her dominance, though she had used her mind in recent years, more than physicality.
These thoughts led Dru to finally deciding how she wanted to deal with Sabo. It could go either way, making him angry or showing him how ridiculous he was being, but she felt it would be worth it. If he wanted a spy, then she would show him exactly what he wanted.
"Um, Dru?"
"Yes?" Dru replied, blinking a bit to focus on her friend that was suddenly right in front of her.
"You had this sinister looking smile on your face," she said, her eyebrow arching in question.
"Did I?" Dru asked with a smile, wiggling her eyebrows to make her friend laugh, and Koala didn't disappoint her.
"Should I even ask?" she asked as she laughed.
"Probably not," came the answer.
The following day began "Operation Mess with Sabo". Dru knew she didn't want to actually aggravate the situation, she just wanted to show him how ridiculous the whole thing actually was. So she decided to do everything she could to look suspicious, while exaggerating to the fullest. Hopefully, it would at least get him to pause and think, and perhaps start a conversation with her. Or, you know, totally mess with his head, she thought.
Leaving her room that morning, she looked in all possible directions before sneaking down to the bathroom. After that, she stealthily made her way to the kitchen and said good morning to the chefs. She didn't do anything different from her daily schedule, just added some odd behavior.
The humor of the situation helped her to continue, even when she normally would have confronted him to get it over with. Her actions did not go unnoticed, and she soon had several people asking what she was doing. She grinned and would reply that she was playing a game, and asked that they pretend that she was acting normally if anyone were to question them about it.
It seemed ridiculous, even to Dru, that she was doing this, but she felt she had given Sabo more than enough time and reason to just come and question her himself.
Ever since she had joined these people, she had spent time each day getting to know a new person. She was never dishonest with anyone, in fact telling several people who had asked that she would gladly share about herself, and in return she asked that they not share with others, but direct anyone who asked about her to come and ask her for themselves. Most agreed without a problem, and only once did she need to explain about trying to get the chief of staff to speak to her directly.
After only one day, Koala caught on to what she was doing, and found the whole thing absurd. But truth be told, she was enjoying acting like a fool and seeing smiles among her new comrades due to her silly behavior.
Four days in, Dru walked into the mess hall for dinner, and noticed that Sabo was sitting at their table, across from Koala in what appeared to be an intense discussion. She hummed thoughtfully, then went to the food line- getting a plate for herself, and one for each of them. She felt oddly pleased that she brought it all to the table without spilling, and spoke as she came up to them.
"Do you need more time? I can go back for drinks," she said, placing the plates of food down in front of them.
They both looked up somewhat surprised, then looked down at the food. Koala smiled, and picked up her fork.
"This is great, thanks Dru," she said.
"Yes, thank you" Sabo added. "Please, join us."
"Don't mind if I do," Dru answered happily and sat down next to Koala. "It's nice to see you out and about Sabo, that doesn't seem to happen much," she commented. Seeing his eyes narrow slightly in response, Dru rolled her own, and turned slightly to Koala to start a conversation. Before she could, Sabo started talking.
"So, Dru" he began. "I'm sure you miss your home, back in…?" he left it hanging, obviously wanting her to fill in the blank.
"I came here from the South Blue," she answered. Which, technically was true.
"And your family must miss you, your parents…?"
"Dead," she said without feeling. She refused to talk about them to him. He had some sort of agenda, and she was wanting him to get to the point.
"Your siblings?" he asked.
"Somewhere, out there" she answered. "What about yours?"
"This isn't about me," he answered peering into her face. "This is about you."
"Oh, I get it," she countered, getting annoyed. "So you can protect your family, and your secrets but I can't?" She held up her hand to stop him from answering and continued on. "I was asked to join, by your boss if I'm not mistaken. You don't trust me, that's fine. But DON'T act like I don't get the same freedoms as you do."
She stood up, and grabbed her plate to move somewhere else. Koala had her hand on her arm keeping her there while looking pleadingly at Sabo. He in turn, looked shocked but quickly collected himself.
"Please, sit down" he said quietly. Dru wasn't very happy about it, but she sat. She looked down at her food and decided to eat. "I…" He started speaking but stopped as if unsure what to say. "Dru," he said and she finally looked up to meet his eye- and they stayed there, trying to gauge the other.
Dru sighed, knowing she couldn't stay angry and set her fork down. "My three sisters and I were separated. I agreed with Dragon to join you in your endeavors until I am able to reunite with them. I would never do anything to jeopardize your people, one- because that is not the type of person I am, and two- because if I did, I would be trying to find my sisters alone and I would not succeed." With her impromptu speech done, and no longer hungry, she grabbed her plate, and left.